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White House Expected To Appoint Monkeypox Coordinator; New York Man Describes Monkeypox Experience; China Warns U.S. To Cancel Proposed Taiwan Visit By Nancy Pelosi; Sen. Coons Says Russian Invasion May Prompt China To Act On Taiwan, Gen. Milley Says China Becoming More Aggressive; Missile Strikes In Odessa, Mykolaiv Raises Concerns Over Grain Deal; St. Louis Shatters Single-Day Rainfall Record With Eight-Plus Inches; Russia Says It'll Withdraw From International Space Station In 2024. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired July 26, 2022 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:30:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: We're learning the White House is now expected to name a coordinator to oversee the administration's response.

A response that even Dr. Anthony Fauci says needs to improve.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: There now has to be a balance between vaccines available for those who clearly have been exposed as well as those at risk.

And that's where now the change in the distribution so that you anticipate that someone exposed might get infected as opposed to responding to someone who is infected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Dr. Fauci also mentioned a public health emergency declaration for monkeypox is under active consideration.

Kyle Planck is recovering from monkeypox. He started feeling sick in June, was diagnosed in early July.

He's joining us now.

Kyle, good to have you here. Thank you for coming in.

KYLE PLANCK, RECOVERING FROM MONKEYPOX: Thank you so much for having me.

CABRERA: You are fully recovered, right?

PLANCK: I am, yes, thankfully.

CABRERA: Any residual issues?

PLANCK: Not really. I have a little bit of scar tissue where some of the lesions were. But that's slowly going away with time. I'm hopeful it will get better in no time.

CABRERA: Tell us how you learned you had monkeypox.

PLANCK: I work in the infectious diseases space. I'm a PhD candidate doing research. So with that and being a gay man in New York City, I feel like -- monkeypox is on my mind more than the average person perhaps.

I was aware it was happening in Europe. And after Pride, when I started to feel sick, I came down with some symptoms, generic flu like symptoms and I was worried I had COVID.

In the back of my mind, I was thinking perhaps this is something else, perhaps it's monkeypox. And a few days later, and the spots started to appear all over my body.

CABRERA: We have pictures of these spots. Can you describe more how they differ from other rashes, blisters?

PLANCK: The progression moved really quickly. They looked almost like pimples when they first appeared and then they turned into pustules by the end of the first day.

They started on my arms and hands but spread all over my trunk. And I had some internal lesions that were super painful.

CABRERA: It sounds so painful.

How would you describe that? You said it was the most pain you've ever experienced.

PLANCK: It was. For about a week. I had extremely severe pain, a burning sort of pain that wouldn't go away, even with alternating different types of painkillers.

And that pain really didn't abate until I got prescribed an antiviral used for monkeypox.

CABRERA: OK. So once you were prescribed that, what did the treatment entail?

PLANCK: It's a 14-day course you have to take with a fatty meal to help with the absorption.

Within two days of getting the treatment, I started to feel better and hatch of my lesions started to disappear rather than progressing to scabs like it normally does.

Getting the drug was a complicated process a lot of people are not able to do, unfortunately.

CABRERA: That brings me to the letters and the outreach that you have done to officials trying to say, hey, more people need to have access to this drug, TTPOX, more people need to know about it.

Have you received any response? And who did you reach out to? PLANCK: I cast a wide net for sure. I was reaching out to our Senators

and representatives here from New York. But I also wrote letters to HHS and CDC just trying to reach the people in charge of the TTPOX response basically.

I was just hoping to change the procedure that's required for getting access to TTPOX.

CABRERA: Was it difficult to get access?

PLANCK: Definitely. You have to have a high suspicion or a positive monkeypox test in order to get it. And it requires hours and hours of paperwork for the doctors, actually, to get it from the national stockpile.

For people who aren't connected to academic medical centers like me, it's difficult to get this, even if you're in severe pain.

CABRERA: What more do you think the administration can do? As we discussed at the top of the segment, even Dr. Fauci is saying more needs to be done. There's talk of a monkeypox coordinator being named.

PLANCK: I think it's like increasing vaccinations to prevent the disease, increasing access to people who are sick, so they don't spread it further and get better sooner.

And information as well. CDC has been working on an information campaign but it has not been as effective as we would hope.

Thankfully, last Friday, they made it easier to get TTPOX. Alk of the requirements to enroll in the protocol. Such as taking pictures was optional.

Next steps, having a full-scale clinical trial of the efficacy of this drug and making it optional and not required to get access.

Because that's what creates a barrier for people having to have their doctors have the knowledge of how to enroll them in this trial in order to get access.

CABRERA: Do you feel the administration has a handle on this at this point?

PLANCK: I think the wheels are definitely in motion, but unfortunately, too late. I think the outbreak can still be contained but will take dramatic action on the part of federal authorities getting vaccines and treatment out to people quickly.

I think there was a window back in early May and June to control it that we missed and now it's a lot larger of a problem than we had hoped.

So we need to take pretty bold action to get it under control.

[13:35:02] CABRERA: Kyle Planck, thank you for sharing your story. Thanks for sharing all of that great knowledge that you have of this virus with us.

PLANCK: Great to be here.

CABRERA: I really appreciate it.

PLANCK: No problem.

CABRERA: Wish you the best.

Soccer star, Hope Solo, has pleaded guilty to driving under the influence. The former U.S. World Cup goalie was arrested by North Carolina police back in March. They found Solo passed out behind the wheel of a parked car with her two children in the back seat.

The judge sentenced her to two days' probation and 30 days in jail but gave her 30-days credit for time spent at a rehab center.

In a social media post just yesterday, Solo writes:

"I underestimated what a destructive participate of my life alcohol had become. The upside of making a mistake this big is that hard lessons are learned quickly. Learning these lessons has been difficult and at times very painful."

Tensions are escalating between the U.S. and China as China's Defense Department is now urging the U.S. to cancel Speaker Nancy Pelosi's proposed visit to Taiwan. Their stern warning next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:55]

CABRERA: Now to a warning from China for the U.S. to cancel a proposed visit from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying it will resolutely defend national sovereignty over the visit.

It comes as the Biden administration grows increasingly concerned it can be drawn into a conflict with China over Taiwan.

A report from "The New York Times" says some officials think Chinese leaders could try to cut off access to the Taiwan Strait heavily used for commercial traffic. It's used by U.S. Navy ships passing through the area.

Let's bring in Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. He's a CNN medical analyst and a former commanding general in the U.S. Army.

General Hertling, Taiwan is doing its annual war simulations this week. If China were to cut off access to the Taiwan Strait, how big of a deal is that?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's a big deal, Ana, and it's something that's been occurring for the last several decades. They've been posturing in terms of trying to keep that strait closed saying it is part of their national water. It's not.

But what's interesting, Ana, this entire story is a bit bizarre because first, as a nation, we should never allow a foreign government to make a determination of what is or isn't provocative.

A visit by a CODEL like the one that just returned from Ukraine isn't provocative. And this one isn't so. So the Chinese government's reaction to it is a little bit odd.

By the way, I think we also should add Speaker Pelosi was planning to go to Taiwan several months ago, over a year ago, and came down with COVID so had to cancel the trip.

CABRERA: Do you think she should go?

HERTLING: I do. Any CODEL, the state of affairs or affects the government, this kind of visit meets that.

Usually, it's kept hold for security reasons. They have to keep it secure so they can talk about what kind of security the State Department or the Department of Defense has.

So it tells me there was probably someone giving this to "The New York Times," way prior to Pelosi's office being able to coordinate with people like the secretary of the state and defense and the president.

I think, again, a member of Congress can go anywhere they want. No foreign government should interfere with that.

The administration may now be wanting to walk carefully with China but, at the same time, there needs to be that coordination before any kind of these decisions are made.

CABRERA: Bigger picture, Senator Chris Coons says China has been watching Russia's invasion of Ukraine and may be preparing for a confrontation.

General Milley said the military action in the region was significantly more and noticeably more aggressive. What do these tactics signify to you?

HERTLING: First of all, John Milley is in the area so is getting the most up-to-date information. He is in the region.

Senator Coons is exactly right. A multinational community coming together to defend the sovereignty of a nation against the Russian invasion.

Many people see Taiwan in the same way and see China in the same way and are attempting to intimidate what is a sovereign nation of Taiwan, even though there are some certain distinctions there.

Taiwan has been doing some of the same things Ukraine has been doing, asking for more weapons systems, as they have over the last couple of decades. But that's increased recently. So all of those things are probably playing a part. And China, you

might say they shouldn't have anything to worry about if their intentions are peaceful.

[13:45:02]

But it appears they have something to worry about because they're concerned about the way the world has reacted to the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

CABRERA: Let's talk a little bit about what's happening in Ukraine for a moment.

Both Odessa and Mykolaiv were hit with missile strikes again, raising more concerns about whether that deal to get Ukrainian grain exports moving, will it really happen?

Is this just Russia playing more psychological games like when it promised humanitarian corridors but then attacked?

HERTLING: No, this is Russia doing illegal activity. After signing a treaty saying they would contribute and assist Ukraine and other nations of the world to get grain out of Ukraine, the very next day they strike Odessa with multiple missiles.

That tells me, first of all, they're spitting in the face of the U.N., saying, hey, whatever you do, we don't care about. And even though we sign our names to a document, we're not going to live up to it.

It's just another indication of the way Russia treats their diplomacy. And it's also an indicator of the way we should treat them in return.

We should never trust the kinds of things that they do. And any kind of attempt at a peaceful negotiation has fallen through in the last several years with Russia.

So I think this is really a fascinating story. But I think it speaks to the bigger strategy of what Russia is attempting to do, and that is to create a famine in Africa and that will threaten, due to migration, Europe.

Again, it goes back to, what does Putin want? He wants a divided Europe. He wants a divided NATO. He's attempted to do it in several ways and he's failed in every respect so far.

So this attempt to starve the world by withholding grain or intimidating those Ukrainians trying to ship grain is another attempt by Russia to be a pariah on the world stage.

CABRERA: Using hunger as a weapon.

Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you, as always.

Up next, frayed space diplomacy. Russia says it will pull out of the International Space Station in 2024. We've got details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:51:41]

CABRERA: In Missouri, rescues are underway amid record flash flooding in the St. Louis area. This fast-rising water is stranding people on top of cars. One resident telling CNN, officials are warning people to leave their lower-level apartments that could flood.

This is I-70 in Missouri. The flooding making it look more like a river than a major highway.

It is the most rain St. Louis has ever seen in a single day, in 150 years-worth of record keeping.

CNN's Tom Sater is in the Weather Center for us.

Tom, how long is this flooding going to be a threat?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Unfortunately, Ana, there's more rain tonight into tomorrow. This hits close to home. This is my hometown born and raised. I have family in my entire area that's been flooded.

And firsthand accounts have not been good. It will be interesting to see how many 911 call for emergency services.

The U.S. has nine $1 billion weather disasters. We could be looking at number 10. Very reminiscent to what happened in Nashville in 2010.

Notice from Troy, Missouri toward Mount Vernon, but really in St. Louis and St. Louis County, the amount of rain staggering. Most of this in a couple hours. St. Peters picking up the amount of rain in two hours.

This is a one-in-500-year flood event. It is called training, box cars of a train. One thunderstorm after another following suit.

If you recall, there's been extreme heat in this area. You can see the watches. And now we'll be watching the area to the east in Kentucky.

When you have extreme heat -- St. Louis had a heat index of 110 the other day, a warming atmosphere holds more moisture -- so you get these staggering rain totals.

The frontal system that ended the heat wave in the northeast, meandering over the same area. So we're looking at a prolonged event. Not just for Wednesday but Thursday as well.

St. Louis, get ready. There's more rainfall tonight into tomorrow. From Kansas City, another batch toward tomorrow night.

Now it moves into the higher terrain, ana, of western Kentucky, eastern Kentucky toward West Virginia. We'll be watching heavy totals, possibly more flooding going to occur.

Just a staggering event, a 105-year event.

CABRERA: Wow, 100 in five -- one in 500-year event, right?

SATER: Excuse me. Yes.

CABRERA: Yes, it's huge and very dangerous.

Tom Sater, thank you for that update.

Now to major developments in the earth's orbit. Russia plans to pull out of the International Space Station after 2024.

According to the Kremlin, the head of the Russian space agency told President Putin that after fulfilling its obligation, the agency will form its own orbital station.

CNN's Kristin Fisher is following this one.

Kristin, give us some context. Is this posturing by Russia? How significant could this pullout be?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Ana, this is far from the first time that Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, has threatened to pull out of the International Space Station.

But, this time the threat could actually be real, and here's why. First, it is coming from the newly appointed head of Roscosmos, a man by the name of Yuri Borisov.

He has been put in that post by Russian President Vladimir Putin so he has Putin's full confidence.

This announcement was actually made on the Kremlin's Web site. And it apparently has Putin's approval. Because there's a video of Putin himself responding to this announcement and saying, good.

[13:55:00]

So for that reason, this time, this threat feels a lot more real.

But remember, so far, this has just been an announcement. NASA has not -- as of now, as far as we know, NASA has not been formally notified of this change as Russia is required to do.

Best we can tell, it has caught a lot of people by NASA by surprise. Even the astronauts on the International Space Station.

Listen to this, from Kjell Lindgren, who was asked about this announcement a few minutes after the news broke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KJELL LINDGREN, NASA ASTRONAUT: As to the news, that is very recent news. We haven't heard anything officially.

Of course, you know, we were trained to do a mission up here and that mission is one that requires the whole crew. So we continue to work every day to conduct the science and research that we've been trained to conduct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FISHER: So the International Space Station has been this beacon of diplomacy for more than two decades. It has survived every other conflict on earth, Ana, but, of course, very unclear now if it is going to survive this one.

CABRERA: All right, Kristin Fisher, thank you.

And thank you at home for joining us. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. We're back tomorrow, same time and place. Until then, you can always find me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera.

The news continues right after this.

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